'Uncivilized' Comedy and Its Reception
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. Volume 9, Issue 1 May 2012 ‘Uncivilized’ Comedy and its Reception Helena Popovic University of Zagreb Summary This research sets out to explore the social reception of the television comedy Da Ali G Show - a text that raised controversy due to its politically incorrect discourse. It was carried out in two different socio-cultural settings: London/United Kingdom and Zagreb/Croatia. The results are based on eighteen interviews with these interpretive communities (Fish, 1980) built on shared preference for the show and the type of humour it promotes. There were obvious differences in the position the text itself had in these respective communities: While it was very popular in the UK, especially among young people, it had a marginal position the in Croatia, viewed by a small niche that considered themselves to be alternative to the Croatian mainstream. The decoding of the text showed profound differences: in the UK interpretive community mechanisms were found that enabled appreciation of the show while still remaining within a politically correct discourse. In the Croatian interpretive community, however, these mechanisms were absent, since there was no sense of violation of a norm if one engaged in a politically incorrect discourse. The findings suggest that the broader social context determined the position the text itself had in these respective interpretive communities, and was important in shaping the way it was decoded by the readers. Keywords: television comedy; Da Ali G Show; civilized; political correctness; reception; interpretive community, United Kingdom, Croatia Introduction This research set out to explore the social reception of the television comedy series Da Ali G Show in two different socio-cultural contexts: London/United Kingdom and Zagreb/Croatia. Following reception theory’s assumption that interpretation and the negotiation of meaning is always social, I attempted to locate how meaning is produced and what maps of meaning emerge in regards to this text. The social context within which maps of meaning are formed is important because it fosters some interpretive repertoires while rejecting others, and thus reveals what types of ideas are dominant in a specific socio-historical context. Page 43 Volume 9, Issue 1 May 2012 In addition to the fact that all popular texts are useful for understanding everyday life and the construction of meaning, creation of identity and community in a particular culture, comedy as a genre reveals the boundaries of what can be said in public, as well as what counts as civilized and tasteful in contemporary society. This is particularly interesting since comedy and humour in general is an area in which tolerance of the blunt and the outspoken is more acceptable than in most spheres of life, revealing the nitty-gritty of social life – the acceptable and its transgression. Even if the transgression of norms and values is expected in comedy, some texts occasionally bump into the limits of what is defined as appropriate utterance in public, which is why they raise controversy. Limits to humour are by no means anything new, some forms of censorship and self-censorship in comedic discourses are constant; but what is changeable – in a historical and cultural context – is the target and theme of scorn. Even if what might be viewed as sensitive themes provoke reaction and constantly balance on the border of (un)acceptable utterance, it seems that comedy, in the last two decades, has carried a more overt ‘ruthlessness’. I used Da Ali G Show as a case in point: it stirred up debate on a global level. The overall discussion about the show in the extra-textual environment evolved around the same dualities: was it offensive, or did it give a brilliant social commentary? The Text: Da Ali G Show Da Ali G Show1 – created by Sasha Baron Cohen – is a television comedy that originated from the United Kingdom. It was selected for analysis due to its global success amidst controversy raised by its provocative humour but also due to some personal favouritism on my part. Its communicative strategies make it intentionally polysemic, opening up the possibility of multiple modes of decoding. By using irony, parody and satire as communicative strategies, it has a capacity for ambiguity and, combined with a merciless rhetoric, and a biting, uncompromising tone, it provoked anger or discontent on the part of some viewers. The extra-textual environment2 tended to deal with the show predominantly through the expression of polarised views: either praising it as superb satire, or condemning it as offensive. Irrespective of how the text was decoded – as superb satire or as offensive – identity and power relations were always at the heart of every discussion. In the section below, I outline how I decoded the text, framed within the broader debate about political correctness, which is important for the way this research was structured. Needless to say, this decoding is only one possible way to understand it and, as the audience analysis will show, this text surely meant very different things to different people. In Da Ali G Show, Cohen embodies three trickster characters who represent identities of the ‘Other’: the homosexual (Bruno), the low-class (underclass), black, hip-hop subculture (Ali G); and the Oriental (Borat). All three characters are fake journalists who either invite guests to the studio, or go out to report ‘live’ on specific stories. This cover enables Cohen to make people take part in the show, since their expectation is that they are Page 44 Volume 9, Issue 1 May 2012 interacting with ‘real’ journalists. The humorous situations develop from their unpreparedness to be confronted with the characters that Cohen embodies, and the kinds of questions he asks. The programme includes discussions in a studio, as well as field- reporting with different kinds of people – from politicians and celebrities to ‘ordinary’ people and various groups pursuing different activities and interests. From looking at the three alter egos and their characteristics, it cannot be claimed that the show displays a clear position. We might ask ourselves: Who is the target of its irony? Who/what is satirized? The marginal identity groups that his alter egos represent or the power structures he confronts them with, the ones that build and perpetuate stereotypes? His choice of collective identities represented by his characters is undoubtedly linked to left policies emerging in the 60s – identity politics, and the protection of minorities. However, the way he depicts the alter egos can be seen as perpetuation and confirmation of existing stereotypes. On the other hand, if one takes into consideration the binary structure of the show and the confrontation of supposed antipodes, then the focus moves from the three scripted characters to the unscripted reactions provoked by their appearance, which then reveals how exclusion and inclusion operates in contemporary Western societies. In the television comedy viewed as a whole, Cohen constructs the show around identity issues, by taking the position of subaltern identities. Cohen is probing the question of political correctness. For instance, the character Ali G says: ‘Respek’ is important. But the sad thing is there is so little ‘respek’ left in the world, that if you look at the word behind me in the dictionary, you will find that it has been taken out (the word behind him is spelled ‘respek’ so naturally it is not in the dictionary). So if this show teaches you anything, it should teach you how to ‘respek’ everyone: animals, children, bitches, spazmos, mingers, lezzers, fatty boombahs, and even gaylords. So, to all you lot watching this, but mainly to the normal people, ‘respek’! West Side. The whole concept of political correctness is related to the requirement to respect minorities, or the ‘Other’ – collectivities that have, in the course of history, been suppressed in a world dominated by white, Anglo-Saxon protestant, heterosexual, males. This is an important element of the occidental civilization today – a result of the self-reflexive critical discourse that has emerged within it. It evokes the concept of ‘civility’ in a new way and in a new context. To be ‘politically correct’ is an important feature of ‘being civilized‘ in contemporary societies, even while the term per se is a rare example of one which is simultaneously much disputed and yet much in use. It could be argued that political correctness is a permanent dimension of every society if it is defined as taboos that should not be uttered, or as positions/world views that are censured by political authority and legally prosecuted (such as National Socialism in Germany after World War II). However, I consider political correctness to be a new phenomenon; a specific form of self-censorship that has emerged as a result of pressure coming from a part of the upper strata of western Page 45 Volume 9, Issue 1 May 2012 societies. It is a form of self-reflexive critique that has introduced sensitivity into language especially linked to less powerful, subaltern groups, some of which were constituted as new collectivities in the 60s and 70s. What formed the basis of this idea was the attempt to point towards deep inequalities and firm hierarchies in the West, embedded in language. With the recognition of these inequalities and an attempt to change them, it was necessary to change the conceptual tools in usage. Thus, the term ‘politically correct’ is primarily related to language. David Macey defines it as the ‘avoidance of the